1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a storage receptacle for a fiber optic drop cable, and more particularly, to a fiber optic drop cable slack storage receptacle for storing and protecting an excess length of a pre-connectorized fiber optic drop cable in an optical communications network.
2. Description of the Related Art
The telecommunications industry has recognized the many advantages of fiber optic cable, including a significantly higher bandwidth and greater performance and reliability than conventional copper wire systems. Despite the many advantages, extremely high installation costs have discouraged service providers from deploying continuous fiber optic networks extending from their central office facilities all the way to subscriber premises. As used herein, “fiber-to-the-premises” (FTTP) refers to the deployment of an optical fiber network that extends continuously to the subscriber premises. Along the primary distribution lines of a communications network, the volume of traffic and the number of customers often justify the high installation cost of optical fiber. However, thus far, the additional cost of deploying optical fiber to remote, individual subscriber premises has far outweighed the potential benefits to service providers.
Therefore, instead of implementing FTTP networks, service providers have developed various strategies to provide certain of the benefits of fiber optic networks, without actually incurring the costs associated with deploying optical fiber all the way to the home (or other subscriber premises). One such strategy is known as “fiber-to-the-curb” (FTTC), in which optical fiber extends from the service provider's central office to local terminals (also referred to as outside plant terminals, local convergence cabinets, etc.) that are situated in service areas having a high concentration of subscribers. Such FTTC systems provide certain of the benefits of an all fiber optic network, but still require the deployment of a continuous fiber optic network from the service provider's transceiving and/or switching equipment to the subscriber's transceiving equipment in order to realize the full benefit of the fiber optic network.
It is known that fiber optic drop cables may be efficiently connectorized in a controlled manufacturing environment, such as an optical cable assembly plant, thereby avoiding the higher material, labor and equipment costs required to connectorize drop cables in the field. By pre-connectorizing the fiber optic drop cable, the necessity of field splicing an optical fiber of the drop cable to, for example, an optical fiber of a distribution cable, is avoided. However, the pre-connectorized drop cable must be manufactured in either custom or preselected standard lengths, the former being impractical due to the higher manufacturing costs so that the latter is a preferred solution in most instances. A problem which then exists is where and how to store the excess length of drop cable that results when deploying, for example, a standard 108-foot drop cable when the length of the drop cable actually needed is only 175 feet. Service providers have long desired to deploy pre-connectorized drop cables in order to reduce field labor and installation costs, but thus far have not been presented with an effective manner in which to store the excess length of the drop cable (also referred to herein as drop cable slack).
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus for storing the fiber optic drop cable slack that results when deploying a pre-connectorized drop cable to a subscriber premises. Further, what is needed is an apparatus that both stores drop cable slack and substantially conceals it from view, such as a slack storage receptacle that is mounted to a wall surface of a subscriber premises, is buried in the ground, or is mounted in close proximity to a connection terminal, such as an aerial closure or an above-ground telecommunications pedestal.